Eastern Himalaya

The Eastern Himalayas comprise the tracts of the Darjeeling Hills or North Bengal, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, and eastern Bhutan. The region is drained by the Brahmaputra river and its tributaries: the Teesta drains Sikkim and the Darjeeling areas, and the Manas drains part of Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh. The Kamang and the Subansiri are the other important rivers that drain the eastern Himalayas.
The Eastern Himalayas can be divided into the following climatic regions: arctic, sub-arctic, temperate, subtropical, and warm tropical. The forests are moist, dense, evergreen, semi-evergreen, or temperate. Precipitation is very high and the forest region is very humid. Sal forests and evergreen trees are found extensively all along the foothills of the Eastern Himalayas. Subtropical forests cover the hills up to an elevation of about 2000 m.

People & Culture

Eastern Himalayas in India and nearby areas of eastern Bhutan people practice religion and culture similar to those living in northern Myanmar and Yunnan province in China. The people of Sikkim mainly belong to three ethnic groups. They are the Nepalis, the Bhutiyas and the Lepchas. The Lepchas are now a minority class but they are the original inhabitants. The main occupation of the people in the Himalayan region is agriculture and animal husbandry. But recently trade and commerce had played a vital role in the lives of the people living in the frontier villages in Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh and other eastren himalaya region.